There can come a point in a missionary or ministry fund raiser's job where raising support becomes burdensome or seen as a necessary evil. I was at that point when I happened to come across this book when I was at some training for my job with a collegiate ministry. The book was actually given to new staff who were at an orientation for the collegiate ministry I work for when I was also there for my training. I happened to see it and picked up the book and looked at the back cover. Since I am no a supervisor of staff with this ministry I thought it would be good to get a copy and read it for myself. It was in reading this book that I came to realize that I was at a point where I saw asking for financial support as a necessary evil. This book change my perspective back to what I was taught three years ago when I first joined the ministry.
The God Ask by Steve Shadrach is a must read for anyone who has to raise their own support, whether as a missionary overseas or working with a ministry not-for-profit. This book would also be a great read for pastors as the biblical teaching on money is top notch.
The graph to the right shows the interconnectedness of the entire God Ask (support raising process). Often the ministry worker only sees the relationship with the potential supporter but fails to see how God is connected to both the ministry worker and the potential supporter. By keeping God in the entire process it helps a ministry worker have the right attitude toward the process of raising support.
The author also attacks some of the ideas and practices that keep a ministry worker from getting to full support quickly. Some of the ideas that many ministry workers think they have to have is the idea of showing scarcity to get funded. The idea here is that if people think that I am poor they will give more. Actually the opposite happens because the potential supporter thinks the ministry worker can not manage money well. This doesn't mean the ministry worker lives extravagantly but the idea of living meagerly for the sake of funding is not a healthy one (there are instances where living meagerly for ministry is appropriate, so what I am talking about here is the attitude that drives us to our funding. Read the book for a better and broader understanding of how this can be a bad idea).
Steve also helps the reader know what a healthy and productive way of raising support looks like with great insight on how to go about raising support initially and then staying supported. He also shares how to increase support when the ministry budget grows.
Overall this is a great book and one of the best support raising books I have read. It is a must read and I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
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